Oct. 1, 2005
Box Score | Photo Gallery
Washington, D.C. - Georgetown Football Falls to Lafayette, 12-7
Washington, D.C. - Lafayette stopped a Georgetown drive late in the fourth quarter and held on for a 12-7 Patriot League win over the Hoyas in front of 2,143 fans at the Multi-Sport Field Saturday afternoon.
The Leopards improve to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the league, while Georgetown falls to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Patriot League.
All of the game's scoring took place in the first half, with Lafayette taking a 12-7 lead into intermission.
The second half was dominated by defensive units that rank among the best in the Patriot League. The Hoyas forced Lafayette to punt three times and the only Lafayette drive that was sustained went eight plays and 42 yards, but ended when Rick Ziska's 40-yard field goal attempt fell short.
Lafayette was moving the ball in the fourth quarter and picked up a first down at the Hoya 19-yard line when tackles from senior Mehdi Hassan (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) and junior Alex Buzbee (Chester, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) helped turn the ball over on downs. Taking the ball over with 6:24 to play in the game, junior quarterback Nick Cangelosi (Camden, N.J./Camden Catholic) engineered a drive that moved the Hoyas into Lafayette territory. Senior running back Marcus Slayton (Cleveland, Ohio/Benedictine) gained seven yards on second down and Cangelosi picked up a first down with a 23-yard run that moved the ball to the Georgetown 41. A pair of Slayton runs - one for five yards and another for three - set up a fourth-and-one at midfield. Cangelosi took the ball himself for two yards to pick up the first down. Behind Slayton and Cangelosi, the Hoyas moved to the Lafayette 43-yard line, setting up a fourth-and-four, but the Leopards stopped Georgetown and took the ball over with 1:27 to play, sealing the win.
Lafayette had taken a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on a 36-yard field goal from Ziska. The lead grew to 9-0 when Brad Maurer completed a 28-yard scoring pass to Brandon Stanford early in the second quarter and to 12-0 when Ziska connected on a 45-yard field goal with 5:36 to play in the half. The Hoyas responded, however, when Slayton ran 39 yards down the right side of the field, cutting the lead to 12-7 with 3:08 to play in the half.
Maurer completed 18-of-25 passes for 194 yards and ran for 46 yards to lead Lafayette, while Jonathan Hurt ran for 58 and Alfred Belton gained 51 on the ground.
Slayton carried the ball 20 times for 120 yards to lead the Hoyas. It was the first time a Georgetown player had run for at least 100 yards since Kim Sarin (Roseville, Minn./Cretin-Derham) gained 169 against Holy Cross on November 20, 2004. Cangelosi completed 5-of-14 passes for 44 yards and carried the ball 10 times for 31 yards.
Senior All-American candidate Michael Ononibaku (Amherst, Mass./Amherst) led the defensive unit, tallying a team-high 13 tackles (nine solo), with 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Senior linebacker Jason Carter (North Brunswick, N.J./North Brunswick) had 11 tackles (seven solo) and one tackle for loss, while Buzbee had six tackles, one for loss and one sack.
Georgetown plays at home next Saturday, October 8, hosting Duquesne. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.
For the most up-to-date information and statistics on Georgetown Athletics, please visit www.guhoyas.com.
